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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Civil Affairs Soldiers Deliver Seeds to Iraqi Farmers |
| 2004-08-11 |
| EFL ...The brigade will distribute approximately 2,200 tons of these supplies among 80,000 family farms in Al Rashid. The agriculture project, which also includes animal vaccinations that took place earlier this summer, cost $600,000. -snip- minutia "This seed we're giving them is certified seed that introduces a wider gene pool and increases the farmer's yield. The larger their yield, the larger their income. The more crops a farmer can produce, the more jobs are created and food produced." The seed distribution is such a simple project, Cole said, but agriculture affects around 85 percent of Al Rashid's population, so the impact will be enormous. Cole also said that since the seed distribution, mortar fire on Camp Ferrin-Huggins has reduced drastically. "The attacks that we receive here are usually mortars that are fired from fields owned by these farmers," he said. "If you notice that since we started the distribution almost two weeks ago there hasn't been a mortar attack here." Much of the decrease also comes from talking with the farmers and land-owners during the distribution, said Staff Sgt. Barry Rinehart of the 1st Cavalry. "In exchange for this seed we ask them to tell us if they know of any [anti-Iraqi] activities that are going on," Rinehart said. "They agree to give this information for the seed, and we tell them that we expect it." "Our main objective is to save U.S. soldier's lives while helping the farmers to be self sufficient," Cole said. With the seed project nearly under their belts, the agriculture team has plans for future areas of improvement in Iraqi agriculture, Cole said. "We conduct a farmers meeting every Sunday morning here. They bring us issues and problems that they are having." "The farmers have requested assistance with diseases in their vegetables, so our intent is to work with Texas A&M to have their produce disease specialist to assist us in October." With these improvements, the agriculture team and civil affairs hope to help out the people of Al Rashid starting at the lowest level possible. "We're trying our hardest to see that the seed is distributed to the individual farmers," Rinehart said. "If we get it to the individuals who need it the most, we know they will appreciate it and use it, and hopefully that will help bring more stability to the local economy." |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #1 The agriculture project, which also includes animal vaccinations. . . . ANTHRAX??????? |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-08-11 11:41 |